The Crown — Restaurant in Tendring

My family and I recently dined at Crown Ardleigh, and regrettably, our experience fell far short of our expectations. In fact, it ranks as one of the worst service encounters we've had in our 21 years together as a couple.

We visited the restaurant on September 6, 2023, with the anticipation of a delightful family meal. However, the service we encountered that evening, and the subsequent response from their General Manager and head office, has left us deeply disappointed.

Our initial motivation to visit the restaurant stemmed from a promotional offer advertised on their website, promising £20 off when spending £40. According to the terms and conditions, the voucher would be "accessible within 24 hours of downloading their app". To our relief, the QR code appeared in the app within an hour, clearly stating "Claim Now." With this in mind, and without any thought there would be any issues with this, we proceeded to book a table for our family dinner.

Upon concluding our meal, in good faith we presented the voucher, only to be informed that it was invalid. We attempted to clarify that the voucher had indeed appeared in the app after an hour, with the QR code displaying "Claim Now." However, the waitress dismissed our concerns, insisting that we had to pay the full price, as their tills allegedly couldn't accept it. In search of a resolution, we kimdly requested the manager's assistance, presuming it was likely a technical issue.

Instead of finding resolution, we were met with an immediate declaration that we must pay the full price, accompanied by a threat to involve the police if we didn't. This statement came as a complete shock and felt entirely out of context. What we believed to be a reasonable request to discuss the bill and the voucher's validity led to an abrupt threat of legal action. To make matters worse, this incident unfolded in front of our 9-year-old son, who was brought to tears by the experience. The situation was not only embarrassing for us but also disruptive in a restaurant full of other patrons. When I challenged the manager in her response she said our server had told her we weren't going to pay the bill. No apology for the misunderstanding, despite seeing our son in tears.

Despite feeling completely misled and taken advantage of, we reluctantly paid the full price for the meal.

Following our visit, in an attempt to voice our concerns, I filled out the feedback form on their website, expressing not only our dissatisfaction with the offer but also our discomfort with the manager's confrontational approach.

To our dismay, both the General Manager and Head Office initiated an "investigation" into this complaint - both times an "investigation" without directly communicating with us. Their inquiry led them to conclude that the Manager's behavior was entirely appropriate and that we were the ones behaving inappropriately and it was unreasonable for us to expect the offer to be honored. These conclusions were reached despite our assertion that we were merely expressing our disappointment and our intention to share our experience through a review.

After a telephone conversation with the General Manager, who eventually decided to follow this up in person, we were offered a £30 voucher in apology after hearing our story.

Despite gaining some resolution, this was short-lived following an appalling response from their Head Office (Mitchell & Butler - who also failed to make contact with us). In summary, they ignored all our points, their response was completely biased and defensive and even ended with them telling us we are no longer welcome at any of their...

Our visit to The Crown (on what should have been a very special occasion for my Husband's first Father's Day), was extremely disappointing. We arrived at 2.30pm, starters took a very long time to arrive, our daughters main course came out twice for some reason (we sent the 2nd dish back), by 4.15pm we still hadn't received our main courses and had to chase them. Staff were surprised we had not had our main courses yet, apologised and told us the chef was "stressed in the kitchen". Another table next to us (who arrived after us) were receiving their desserts before we had received our main course. When we chased the main courses we were told it was just the fish waiting to be cooked. When our dinners finally came, the chips were lukewarm and the mushy peas were cold. Aside from the fish itself which was nice, our main course was not enjoyable and ended up being left uneaten. After our initial drinks were brought over after sitting down at the beginning of the meal, we weren't offered any further drinks despite all having glasses empty. We had to ask a member of staff to order more drinks. 25 minutes later these drinks STILL had not arrived so we asked them to cancel them as by this point we were so fed up and desperate to leave. My Husband had to go to the car at one point to drink from his water bottle he was so thirsty. The table next to us were also complaining because their food had been sent out wrong. Another table came over to warn us that their deposit had not been taken off the bill. It was a complete and utter shambles. When the bill came, we were asked if we wanted to take some puddings in a box... clearly, this was not the experience we came out for and am thoroughly disappointed and won't ever be returning. I regret wasting money here and am also very disheartened by the small refund of just the first drinks we had (3 soft drinks & 1 beer). The main courses should have been removed altogether! A shocking visit. Staff also seemed rather flat (our waitress told us she was hungover), our experience just went from...

Appalling from start to finish. Disorganised. Miserable bar staff. Slow service. No atmosphere. Half empty but everything took ages. 25 mins to get a drink order in. Had run out of many items on the Christmas menu (for a Christmas eve meal ???). Food items missing from dishes when served. Chef disinterested. Food quality was poor.

Overall, for 4 adults and 2 children it was £205 (with no desserts and no coffee and no alcohol). Ps, bearing in mind we booked the Christmas menu, many weeks in advance, and paid a deposit to book, on the night I found out the main Christmas meal does not come with pigs in blankets ???? They are a £3.95 supplement ! New one on me.

Daughters meal was supposed to include them but were missing. When i pointed that out, the waitress bought 1, as in ONE, on a separate plate. ONE pig in blanket, measuring 3cm. Merry Christmas from Vintage Inns !!! Then our bill was wrong as the deposit wasn't taken off (and the waitress had to ask us for our name??). When you've booked and paid an amount in advance... surely they'd want to find that out when you arrive to be seated. So if you want to pay £200 + for a cold, 1980s style meal, with no alcohol, desserts or coffee, and only 50% of the menu available (you didn't expect Christmas pudding at Christmas did you?) then the Crown at Ardleigh is the place to come

Strangely, my review reads very similar to many others from last Christmas, so looks like these problems are as systemic as they are long running

Lastly, look out for the young female bar staff. Award wining levels of no eye contact or smile whatsoever. Literally zero, all night. Even whilst delivering drinks to us at the table. That's quite a skill (to get the zero level so constantly consistent)

Place does look great from the outside. Looks can be deceiving.

If you're looking for some truly poor service and some 'Vintage' Fawlty Towers style entertainment (what can they get wrong next??) maybe book a table and go...